Page 35 of Happy After All

“A fundraiser.”

I realize that I have missed the actual kismet here. That I’ve been so distracted by my personal feelings about Nathan and what passed between us that I have missed the actual reason for him walking into my life in the first place.

Of course. It was never about me. What a main character point of view. It was about the town all along.

He’s not my fate. He’s Rancho Encanto’s.

“You’re right,” I say. “He should. At A Very Desert Christmas. We can advertise that Jacob Coulter is going to be there. That he’s going to sign books.” I’m getting more and more excited as I start talking. “He could maybe give a talk. People love author talks. They love them way more than they love book signings. Everybody wants you to tell them how they can get published.”

“Well, he could do that. Then you could sell tickets to the event, and it could all go to benefit the community!”

This is it. The thing I’m looking for. Something that will help me earn more money for the festival and will even keep me extra busy, and maybe farther away from Christopher.

I’m suddenly very grateful for my best friend, for her knowing me, and for her being able to look at a situation and see something I didn’t because I was so focused on my own drama.

“You’re a genius,” I say, because I’m not going to gatekeep my level of admiration for her.

“Thank you,” she says.

“Of course, convincing him of that could be ... difficult.” But I think of the way he was the night of the fire. He genuinely cared about everybody. “He is for sure a giant curmudgeon,” I say, “but I must reluctantly confess I think there is good deep down in his heart.”

Elise laughs. “How inconvenient.”

“No kidding.”

But now I have a mission. When Nathan shows up, I’m going to be the most pleasant version of myself possible. Bygones are going to be bygones.

Because now I have a ringer for A Very Desert Christmas. It fills me with hope, joy, and glad tidings. This is the cliché Christmas miracle I’ve been waiting for. It’s not my ex coming in from the big city.

It’s thisvery convenientcircumstance.

I’ve been given my own version of a cheesy Christmas romance.Sansromance.

And I’m going to embrace the hell out of it.

Chapter Nine

I let Elise work the counter on my birthday, as planned, even though that means I won’t see Nathan when he checks in. I tell myself that’s a good thing.

First of all because I don’t want to accost him with the book event idea immediately, and I’m excited enough about it that I don’t fully trust myself. But second of all because after the way we parted in the summer, I’m not sure what to do or say when I see him next.

It feels like something happened when it didn’t, and that is the story of everything with him.

I’m supposed to be taking the day off, so in service to that I’m wearing my pink bikini and lying on a lounger, reading a romance novel, because what could be better?

Of course, my mind is wandering. Nathan. Christopher. A Very Desert Christmas. Fundraising.

It’s a loop I can’t get out of.

Nathan. Christopher. A Very Desert—

Nathan.

My heart slams against my breastbone as he walks out of the lobby and through the courtyard. He has his usual travel bag slung over his shoulder, the usual wheeled bag trailing along behind him.

I’m lying out like a starfish, mostly naked, which has never crossed my mind when wearing a swimsuit until this moment.

I hope he doesn’t see me. Which of course means he takes two more steps, then does. Our eyes meet and he stops, like he isn’t quite sure what he wants to do next.

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